Phish Announces Curveball Festival Cancelled At The Last Minute

The four of us are writing this from directly behind the stage at Watkins Glen. We were about to walk onstage only moments ago for our traditional soundcheck jam for Curveball when we were told the heartbreaking news that due to the unsafe water conditions in the Village of Watkins Glen, our beloved festival is being canceled.

We are still in shock. The entire site is already set up and ready to go after literally months of work by our beloved hardworking crew, many of whom have been here for weeks. Our families are here, our gear is set, our tents are up. We keep waiting for someone to come over and tell us that there is a solution, and that the festival can go on. Unfortunately, it is not possible.

We are so terribly sorry for the inconvenience that this is causing so many of you. We hope from the bottoms of our hearts that at the very least this news will reach you before too much disruption takes place in your personal lives. We know that people traveled far, at great expense. We understand that people are missing work, and changing their schedules around.. we wish so much that there was some way that this wasn’t happening.

This summer has been absolutely joyous, with each gig building on the previous one, and we were all buzzing with excitement about Curveball. Please accept our deepest apologies for the disruption that this has caused all of you.. We wish there was something else we could say.

Thank you all from the depths of our souls for the joy that you continue to share with us every night. This has been the greatest summer we can remember.

Travel safe and know that we are as heartbroken as all of you. We are standing back here behind the stage, at our party that we’ve been planning for over a year, and we have just told that it won’t happen. There’s just nothing we can do.

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An Update For Curveball Ticket Holders
We’re all still reeling from the effects of the Curveball cancellation, and we know you are as well. We understand the commitment one makes in attending an event like this: from the logistical planning, to the time taken off from work, to the significant expense incurred that cannot be recovered (beyond the cost of tickets — see below re: refunds). We deeply appreciate you, our fan community, for your understanding and for making the best of a difficult situation. We want to recognize artists, crew, vendors, volunteers and everyone who had been working on the festival, some for months in advance, to share their talents with you. Additionally, we want to send our appreciation and support to the people of Watkins Glen who welcomed us and are now themselves dealing with the effects of the flooding in their homes and businesses.

As the festival team continues to address the Curveball we’ve all been thrown, we want to update you on a few things that we’re working on and we will send further details once they’ve been finalized.

Refunds: Everyone who purchased wristbands, vehicle passes, travel or rental packages via the official ticketing provider (Front Gate Tickets) will receive a full refund of ticket price, service fees and shipping automatically. Refunds will go back to the original buyer’s credit card account. We appreciate your patience while we work through this process. Anyone who purchased on secondary markets or did person-to-person trades/sales should seek a refund at their point of purchase.

Dick’s Webcasts: Starting tomorrow, all Curveball ticket holders will be able to redeem the code on their wristbands at livephish.com/redeem to watch the webcast of all three shows at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO over Labor Day Weekend.

Merchandise: The severe flooding in the region didn’t only affect us. It wreaked havoc across a 14 county area. We will be a launching a Curveball merchandise store very soon and donating the proceeds to flood relief and recovery. The store will include Curveball t-shirts, LE posters and other items (including the Nalgene water bottles intended for our CurveWater program). Curveball ticket holders will have first access to the store once live.